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UFC star Paddy Pimblett is gearing up for his return to the Octagon, and he likes the options in front of him for his next fight. Pimblett was called out by…
UFC star Paddy Pimblett is gearing up for his return to the Octagon, and he likes the options in front of him for his next fight. Pimblett was called out by…
Sharing words of encouragement to former lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira off the back of his contentious decision defeat at…
Sharing words of encouragement to former lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira off the back of his contentious decision defeat at UFC 300 this month, light heavyweight titleholder, Alex Pereira has urged the Brazilian to take some inspiration from his ability to rebound from his KO loss to Israel Adesanya just a year ago.
Oliveira, the current number two ranked lightweight contender, featured on the main card of UFC 300 earlier this month alongside Brazilian compatriot, Pereira – himself dropping a controversial split decision defeat to surging contender, Arman Tsarukyan.
Going close with a trio of guillotine choke, armbar, and D’Arce choke submission wins – ultimately to no avail in a decision loss, Sao Paulo finishing star, Oliveira his case for a victory in place of Tsarukyan’s wrestling display in their title-eliminator.
Vowing to return triumphantly off the back of his narrow decision setback, Oliveira, the promotion’s most prolific finishing force, was backed and defended by his countryman, Pereira – who urged the ex-lightweight champion to carry on and continue, taking inspiration from his own defeats.
“I’ve been through this,” Alex Pereira told Laerte Viana about Charles Oliveira’s decision loss at UFC 300. “He [Charles Oliveira] has to see if he made a mistake (against Arman Tsarukyan). Sometimes we lose, but not because we made a mistake. He has to see if there will be changes, do something different.”
“Nobody knows what he’s going through outside the world of fighting, too,” Pereira said of Charles Oliveira. “The important thing is for him to know if there is something to correct and try to fix it somehow.”
Insisting the lion inside of him is “still hungry” despite his decision blemish to Tsarukyan, Oliveira weighed up his options including rematches against fellow card features, Justin Gaethje – and more particularly, Max Holloway, suggesting a future BMF championship rematch with the Hawaiian off the back of his emphatic victory.
Who would you like to see Charles Oliveira fight in his return?
Booked to return at UFC 302 at the beginning of June, undisputed lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev claims he has…
Booked to return at UFC 302 at the beginning of June, undisputed lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev claims he has the “keys” to turn in an easy victory over incoming foe, former interim gold holder, Dustin Poirier in New Jersey.
Makhachev, the current undisputed lightweight champion and pound-for-pound ranked fighter on the promotion’s banner, is slated to make his first outing inside the Octagon this summer at UFC 302 in Newark, taking on Poirier in a summer comeback.
Sidelined since last October, Makhachev most recently retained his lightweight crown with a stunning first round high-kick and strikes knockout win over then-featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski in the pair’s short-notice rematch clash.
As for Poirier, the former interim titleholder co-headlined UFC 299 back in March, rallying to turn in an emphatic second round knockout win over emerging French contender, Benoit Saint Denis – denying the Nimes native another consecutive victory.
And booking a fight with the Lafayette native in his return to active competition, Makhachev – who is reportedly gearing up for both a rematch with Arman Tsarukyan and a projected welterweight move later this year, expects an “easy” bout with Poirier at UFC 302.
“Dustin (Poirier) is a legend – he has more experience than anybody in this sport,” Islam Makhachev told TMZ Sports. “But his problem is his style, just one problem this guy have. His weak point is wrestling and the grappling. And I just – I have the key for the easy fight, I think if I follow the plan, I can beat him easy.”
“My style and Khabib (Nurmagomedov’s) style is worst style for Dustin,” Islam Makhachev explained. “People who can take him down and hold him there, always give him problems. And I’m not underestimating Poirier, because you know, this guy’s a legend, he can beat everybody. …Dustin, be ready – and wrestle a lot. I defend my neck, I’m ready for your guillotine, that’s why it’s not happening in our fight.”
Do you think Islam Makhachev is overlooking Dustin Poirier?
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Covington wants an opponent that can launch him back into title contention if he wins. According to Colby, Ian Garry ain’t that guy. Colby Covington intends to fight at UF…
Covington wants an opponent that can launch him back into title contention if he wins. According to Colby, Ian Garry ain’t that guy.
Colby Covington intends to fight at UFC 303 in June. He just isn’t interested in fighting Ian Machado Garry there.
Covington and Garry have been squawking back and forth for months now, to the point where we weren’t sure we wanted to experience the antics we’d undoubtedly have to witness if their fight got booked. But Covington slowly but surely stopping chirping back at Garry, and now there’s silence as Ian calls for Colby to sign a contract for UFC 303.
In a recent appearance on the Hodge Twins Podcast, Covington outlined his summer plans.
“I’m gonna fight this summer for sure, someone’s gonna get fought,” Covington said. “So yeah, they’re trying to figure out who’s the biggest name and the best business that we can do for the UFC. International Fight Week is like their big event in the summer, the UFC does a big festival all week and it’s capped off by this big pay-per-view on Saturday.”
“So I think that’s when they’re planning for me, International Fight Week. Just trying to figure out who who’s gonna be the guy.”
“I got unfinished business with my last fight, Leon Edwards, the guy that has the title right now,” he added. “I broke my foot in the first five seconds of that fight. I threw a kick, it broke in 3 different places. So that wasn’t me that night. I’m gonna probably have to fight someone else to get back to him. So whoever.”
“Chaos” no-sold “The Future” as a potential opponent.
“There’s this kid that’s been calling me out,” Covington said. “This kid, Ian Garry, he’s a nobody. I gave him some stipulations and said, ‘Hey man, if you wanna fight me, you have to show me you’re serious about business.’ Because when I do business, I’m serious about it. I show up to every fight. I’ve never pulled out of one fight. I’ve been injured. I’ve been sick. But I always show up and do my business because I love the UFC as the greatest organization on world. So he has to show me he’s serious.”
Garry pulled out of his UFC 296 fight against Vicente Luque with a bad case of pneumonia. But as far as Covington is concerned, he chickened out moments before the press conference to avoid Colby’s fierce burns.
“He was supposed to be on my last event in the press conference. He pulls out the day of the press conference because he knew I was gonna be on stage, and we’re gonna have some beef. So that shows me that he’s not serious.”
Is Covington serious about competing at UFC 303? If he is, he may have to accept Garry as the only available welterweight that could get him back into title contention.
Former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington has confirmed plans to make a return to the Octagon this summer –…
Former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington has confirmed plans to make a return to the Octagon this summer – namely at June’s end-of-month UFC 303 event, claiming himself and undisputed titleholder, Leon Edwards still retain “unfinished business”.
Covington, the current number four ranked welterweight contender, has been sidelined since he took main event honors at UFC 296 back in December, suffering a one-sided unanimous decision loss to the above-mentioned Edwards in the pair’s heated championship showcase.
Showing off x-ray images of a fractured foot – apparently suffered with the very first kick he threw in the first round of his fight with the Birmingham native, Covington has yet to feature since dropping the defeat – his third in as many undisputed championship fights.
And finding himself heavily linked with a grudge pairing against unbeaten Dublin striker, Ian Garry in the co-main event of UFC 303 in June, Covington has so-far remained silent on recent call outs from the Portmarnock native.
However, according to the Clovis native, talks are underway with the promotion for him to fight at UFC 303 during International Fight Week, with former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor set to headline the card in his long-anticipated return.
And while remaining non-commital on an opponent for his return, Covington – who is never far from controversy amid his outspoken nature, claimed he and arch-rival, Edwards still retained “unfinished business” amid their December pairing.
“I’m gonna fight this summer for sure,” Colby Covington told the Hodge Twins. “Somebody is gonna get fought. They’re trying to figure out the biggest name and the best business we can do for the UFC, so – International Fight Week is their big event in the summer.”
“…You know, I got unfinished business with my last fight,” Colby Covington explained. “Leon Edwards, the guy who has the title right now, you know, I broke my foot in the first five seconds of the fight with a kick – it broke in three different places. That wasn’t me that night. So, whoever I have to go through – I’m gonna have to probably fight someone else to get back to him.”
And whilst Covington remains interested in a rematch against Edwards, the Birmingham native has been tied to a potential re-run with the surging Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester in a welterweight championship return.
Do you think Colby Covington can work his way back to a Leon Edwards rematch?
Michael Chandler is doing some “plotting” with Machine Gun Kelly ahead of his highly anticipated clash with Conor McGregor….
Michael Chandler is doing some “plotting” with Machine Gun Kelly ahead of his highly anticipated clash with Conor McGregor.
On Saturday, June 29, the Irish megastar will return to the Octagon for the first time in nearly three years when he headlines UFC 303 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With their scrap just a few weeks away, ‘Iron’ appears to be playing some mind games with McGregor after posting a picture with Grammy Award-nominated artist Machine Gun Kelly.
McGregor and MGK, whose real name is Colson Baker, nearly threw hands during a brief interaction at the MTV Music Awards in 2021. To this day, nobody knows what caused the near-scuffle, but rumors immediately began flying that the animosity was the result of McGregor allegedly sending a direct message to Kelly’s girlfriend, actress Megan Fox.
However, representatives for McGregor have denied that narrative.
Recently, Chandler posted a picture with Kelly in what felt like a pretty clear dig at McGregor.
“63 days…. Plotting with ?@machinegunkelly,” Chandler wrote on X.
After Kelly opted not to comment on his interaction with McGregor, the Irishman told Entertainment Tonight”
“Absolutely nothing happened. I don’t know. He showed up, and I don’t know. I don’t know the guy. Nothing happened with me, I only fight real fighters, people that actually fight, you know what I mean? I certainly don’t fight little vanilla boy rappers. I don’t even know the guy. I don’t know anything about him, except that he’s with Megan Fox.”
McGregor reignited his rivalry with MGK after the incident, commenting on a video of Kelly riding a skateboard on social media. “Watch out guys we got a badass over here,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted post.
It’s certainly not the first time that Machine Gun Kelly has had a run-in with a former MMA world champion. While attending a Power Slap event during Super Bowl weekend, Sean Strickland took issue with Kelly’s attire, telling him to “dress like a f*cking man” and likening him to a vampire.
“I don’t know who the f*ck that guy is,” Strickland tells the cameraman before yelling, “I’m easy to find, vampire man.”
Strickland offered some additional insight into the incident on his YouTube channel.
“I met some good people. Cowboy [Cerrone] was there. I met a vampire, apparently [the] guy dating Megan Fox,” Strickland said of meeting MGK. “You had some Transformers with a broken down car. I don’t know what happened to Megan Fox, but something happened to Megan Fox.
“I don’t know who did it, but I wanna find that man. I wanna have a conversation with him ’cause me and you, dude, we’re not cool. I meet this vampire-like, ‘Dude, you wake up every day and you dress like a vampire.’ I don’t know if he does or doesn’t. Maybe just a wardrobe. But dude, you dress like a vampire man. You look like the goth kid on South Park. And you go out in the world like this, like this only happens because you are in an insulated bubble” (h/t LoudWire).